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Compliments of 





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DAVENPORT, IOWA, 

h 

ITS LOCATION AND 

BUSINESS ADVANTAGES, 

COMPILED AND ISSUED BY 

The Business Men's 
Association. 



1894. 



DAVENPORT, IOWA : 

THE DEMOCRAT COMPANY, 

PHIXTKU!?. 



b . BUSINESS ADVANTAGES OF 

Davenport. History is not the mission of this little 
l)ook, though to write the chronicles of so 
interesting a city would be a splendid pleasure. It is the 
Davenport of t<vday that is held up to view. Men of enterprise 
and affairs live and move and act in the swift-moving currents 
of the present. Davenport's location in the grandest valley on 
the globe; progress and municipal growth; commercial and 
manufacturing advantages; educational, literary and charitable 
features; avenues for trade and investment — these and other 
deversified interests are herein set forth. These pages picture 
busy life among busy men in a busy city. 

Location. Davenport is admirably located on the west 

bank of the great river of the continent — in 
the heart of the magnificent Mississip[)i Valley. It is 181 miles 
west of Chicago; 318 miles east of Omaha, 322 miles north of 
St. Louis, and 31)7 miles south of St. Paul. It is opposite 
the most beautiful island that divides the Mississippi — an 
island richly adornetl by nature, proudly embellished by the 
genius of man, and made historic by exciting scenes and 
memorable associations. On this island the national govern- 
ment has developed abundant water-power, erected great work- 
shops and arsenal, and expended more than Ten Million Dollars. 

Climate. The climate of this locality is varied, but 

exceptionally healthy and invigorating, 
and end)rac'.'s in (^ach twelve months the four distinct seasons. 
The following statistics are taken from the records of the 
United States Weather Bureau office^ in tliis c-ity for the past 
twenl\-two A<'ars : The mean annual temperature of Daven- 
poi-t is 1*.!^. The average tem[)erature for spi'ing, 48*^; for 
s'.muner, 72^'; for auliunn. ■)2'^' : and for winter, 24-'''. The 
liighest temperature recoi-ded is DS^'; the lowest 27'^ below 



DAVENrORT, IOWA. 7 

zero. The average annual rainfall is 35 indies; the greatest 
amount in any year was 47 inches in 1S7(); the least, 23 inches 
in ISST). The average number of f;iir days in a vear is 2~)i): 
cloudy, lot); rainy (with a j)[)rt'ci;il)l(' i-ainfall ). VH). The 
average relative huniidity is (io per cent. Tiic average velocifv 
of the wind is from (> to S miles per hour, and the highest 
velocity ever attained \vas (')() miles per hour. The prevniling 
direction of wind is southwest during the summer moiitlis, 
and northwest during- the winter months. The average last 
killing frost in spring is April 2o ; the average first killing 
fiost in autumn is October 14. Snow usually covers the 
ground during the greater part of the mid-winter months. 

Population. I)aven[)ort has not made rapid strides in 
poj)ulations and has had no Ixjonis — those 
short-lived and undesirable infections. Tlie growth has been 
regular and steady. The population to-day is believed to be 
40,000, by those whose estimate has a basis in actual knowledge. 
The city now has a thrift and business impetus that [)romise to 
far exceed the past. The Daven])ort of the future must be the 
principal city of Imperial Iowa. 

A Daven[Kn-t, according to mortality returns, 

Healthy is one of the healthiest cities in the Union. 

City. The death-rate has been less than two per 

cent, per annum for 3'ears. Not only does 

an invigorating climate give it pre-eminence over most cities, 

but tlu^ city's su])[)ly of [)ure. filtered water is abundant: the 

surface draiiuige is good naturally: and the sewer system, the 

result of the best sanitary engineering, reaches the suburbs as 

well as the thickl}' settled sections of the cit3\ Health affairs 

are managed by a non-partisan Board of Health, that works in 



BUSINESS ADVANTAGES OP 



harmony with state and national associations, and is tireless in 
the j)erformance of exacting duties. The enforcement of proper 
sanitary reofnlations is immediate and certain. 




WATER COMPANY FILTERS. 

Educational. Davenport is justly proud of a public 
school system that will bear the closest 
scrutiny and comparison with the best ia the country. They 
haye long borne an enviable reputation for excellence, modern 
methods and thoroughness of instruction. The buildings, 
eleven in number, are constructed on approved plans and of the 
best of materials. They are supplied with modern furnishings 
and all that tends to an elevating and refining influence. They 
are thoroughly organized and graded in every department, and 
only capable and experienced persons are employed as instruc-r 
tors. Popular and progressive features of the system are a 



DAVENPORT, IOWA. 



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High School, a Normal and Practice School for the training of 
teachers, evening schools, kindergarten departments, a well- 
equipped Manual Training School for boys and a Cooking School 
for girls. In addition to the excellent public schools there are 
many private schools of a high grade. Clriswold College and 
Kemper Hall, for boys, and St. Katharine's Hall, for girls are 
under the management of the Episcopal church. The Roman 




ONE OF ELEVEN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. 



Catholics have St. Ambrose Seminary for boys. Immaculate 
Conception Academy for girls, and several excellent primary 
and intermediate parochial schools. Fine opportunity to secure 
a practical education is afforded by the Davenport Business 
College and the Tri-City Commercial College. Several well- 
equipped kindergartens are doing the little people a world of 



10 BUSINESS ADVANTAGES OF 

good. The interests of music, art, literature and the drama are 
honored, appreciated and cultivated by our citizeus. A city 
that fosters the best of good schools is certain to be a city of 
good homes, of polite society, of inteligence and refinement. 

Parks and Davenport is well to the front in those 

Improvements, public measures which bring adornment as 
well as prosperity to cities. A special an- 
nual tax for the improvement of parks has been voted by the 
people. These beautifiers of the city, so essential to public 
health and comforts are becoming more attractive every year. 
Duringr the coniino: season a new one will be laid out in the 
eastern part of the city. 

All the business and most of the residence streets are paved. 
Several miles of substantial brick pavement have been laid in 
the past two vears, and so univeisal is the demand for perma- 
nent street improvement that each succeeding year sees more 
and more of this work completed. Good roads and well-kept 
highways are not neglected by wise, thorough-going city- 
builders. 

Real There is no more relial)le indication of a 

Estate. city's growth and prosperity than a steady 

increase in the value of real estate. In this 
line of activity prospective investors must distinguish between 
a boom and a healthy growth in values. The transactions in 
real estate in this city have been of such a character as to con- 
vince the intelligent observer of the desirableness of Davenport 
realty as a safe investment. Sales are made for legitimate, not 
purely speculative purposes, and prices are on a solid basis. 
The advance in value has been in all cases the result of advance 
in wealth and prosperity. Suitable and advantagious sites for 



DAVENPORT, IOWA, 



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MASONIC TEMPLE. 



12 BUSINESS ADVANTAGES OF 

manufacturing purposes can be bought at nominal prices. 
Desirable business and residence property, needing only proper 
improvement to make it profitable, can be secured at reasonable 
rates. 

In real estate investments, as in trade and commerce, the 
future of the city is not to be lost sight of. A future of growth 
and prosperity must bring the investor sure profits in a rise in 
values. 

Trade. Davenport has a largo trade in proportion 

to its population. Its position as a trade 
center has fostered and established this line of business. Re- 
liable commercial reports show that the city has a great 
annually-increasing wholesale trade. The jobbers during the 
pastyear handled goods to the amount of more than ^7,000,000. 
The city's superior location and trans|)ortation facilities have 
made it possible to do this volume of business easily and suc- 
cessfully. The principal lines represented by Davenport's 
wholesale houses are: Groceries, Dry Goods, Hardware, Drugs, 
Crockery, Butter and Eggs, Packing House Products, Clothing, 
Woolen Goods, Furniture, Mixed Paints, Teas, Coffee, Spices, 
Boots and Shoes. 

Manufactures. A city whose manufacturing interests have 
grown up as those of Davenport have is 
certainly on a safe foundation as a manufacturing center. The 
success that has attended them in the past goes far to [)rove the 
advantages which the city offers the manufacturer as a location 
for his factory. The location is good for collecting raw material 
and for distri])uting manufactured products. The value of 
the output last year was something over $S, 000,000. 00; while 
the nuuibar of hands employed was nearly Four Thousand. 



DAVENrORT, IOWA. 



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BUSINESS ADVANTAGES OF 



The bulk of the manufacturing is in staple articles such as flour, 
lumber, vinegar, syrups, canned goods, threshing machines, 
agricultural implements, cutlery, crackers, artistic woodwork, 
etc., which are distributed over the entire country. It is certain 
that the city is unequalled in the number and variety of its 
small manufactures. Some of these useful and valuable pro- 
ducts are : 



Agricultural nnplenients 

Artilidal Stone 

Awnings 

Bags 

Bank and OfRce Fixtines 

Barrels 

Baskets 

Beer 

Blank Books 

Boats and Barges 

Boxes 

Boilers 

Brick 

Brooms 

Brushes 

Bungs 

Candy 

Canned Goods 

Carpets 

Carpet Looms 

Carriages 

Castings (hori and Brass) 

Ceylon Tea 

Cheese 

Clun-ns 

Cig;irs 

Cigar Boxes 

Cigar Makers" Supplies 

Cloaks 

Clotliing 

Cordage 

Crackers 

Cultivators 

Electrical K(|uipments 

Klectrotypes and Kngravings 

Feed 

Flavoring Extracts 



Flour 

Files 

Fire Apparatus 

Furs 

Furniture 

(i loves 

Glucose 

Hats 

Hair Goods 

Harness 

Horse Collars 

Iron Fences 

Ladders 

Lath 

Leather 

Lumber 

Macaroni 

Machinery 

Malt 

Match Boxes 

Mattresses 

Mixed Paints 

Monuments 

Mustai'd 

Overalls 

Bants 

Baste 

Bai>er Bags 

Patterns anil Models 

Pickles 

Pianos 

Piano Trucks 

Plating 

Plows 

Pork 

Pumps 

Keed Furidture 



Kcfrigerators 

Rubber Stamps 

Sash, Doors and Blinds 

Scales 

Scissors 

Shingles 

Shoes 

Shears 

Shirts 

Show Cases 

Sleighs 

Sleigh Runners 

Slippers 

Soap 

Spices 

Stairs 

Stair Builder's Supplies 

Steam Engines 

Stencils 

Stove Polish 

Straw Goods 

Syrups 

Tents 

Tobacco 

Threshing Machines 

Trunks and Valises 

Vermicelli 

Vinegar 

"Wagons 

Wagon Axels (in one piece) 

Wheels (Metallic) 

Washing Machines 

Window Shades 

Wine 

Wood Mantels 

Wooden Shoes 

Woolen Goods 



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BUSINESS ADVANTAGES OF 



Syrup Davenport has the largest glucose raanu- 

Refinery. facturing establishment in the west, if not 

in the whole country. These works employ 
regularly many hundred men. Its business amounts to almost 
a Million Dollars annually. They furnish a ready and con- 
venient market for nearly (),000 bushels of corn daily, or more 
than a million and a half bushels annually. The benefit of this 
refinery to Davenport and the surrounding farming country, in 
furnishing a good market for corn needs only to be mentioned. 
This plant in its original cost, its annual extensions, and general 
improvements represents a capital of nearly Half a Million 
Dollars. 




ACADEMY OF NATURAL SCIENCES. 



DAVENPORT, IOWA. 17 

Lumber. Davenport aminally maniTfactures vast 

quantities of lumber. Four large saw mills 
are in o[)eration all season, giving employment to a Thousand 
hands who receive something more than $300, 000. 00 in wages. 
The amount invested in these mills is about $700,000.00. 
They cut 80,000,000 feet of lumber each year, and 2.500.000 
lath and shingles. 

Davenport capital and enter[)rise are bringing from the great 
hard-wood forests of the south, immense supplies of material for 
the construction of farm machinery, builders' s[)ecial su[)[tlies, 
and decorative wood-work. 

Business. Daven[)ort's percentage of failures in bus- 

iness is the smallest of any city in the 
United States. The commercial agencies report that the aver- 
age percentage of failures in the whole country last year was 
.0085. In Iowa it was .0052. This city has not had a business 
failure for many years. Tiiis speaks well and elo([uently for 
any community, and shows that methods of prudence and 
sagacity prevail in establishing business on a bed-rock of 
security. 

W^ater W^orks. Davenport has, without any exception, the 
most complete system of Water- Works, 
both for tire protection and fm* sanitary purposes, of any city 
in the west. The system comprehends a magnificent plant, the 
product of the best engineering skill, and costing a round mil- 
lion dollars. The works were planned and built by ex-Mayor 
Michael Donahue, and are owned by a private corporation of 
Davenport citizens, and have no bonded debt — a fact that 
bears its own business moral. 

The supply of pure and wholesom.e water is taken from the 



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BUSINESS ADVANTAGES OF 



Mississippi river by direct [mmpiiig from a conduit extending 
under the bed of the river about seven hundred feet to the chan- 
nel, where the water runs over solid rock for many miles. 
Being free from contamination of any sort, its purity is assured. 




PUMPING STATION No. 2. Reservoir. 

The works comprise two pumping stations of superior construc- 
tion, a reservoir with a capacity of 5,000,000 gallons, thirty- 
three miles of cast-iron pipe water-mains fiom four to sixteen 
inches in diameter, and 304 public and 15 private fire hydrants. 



DAVENPORT, IOWA, 19 

The consumption is over •3,0()(),000 gallons daily. The filter- 
plant recently added to these works is a model of complete 
machinery. The actual ca])acity of these filters is over 7,500,- 
000 gallons per 24 hours. This is double the size of any other 
filter plant now in use. It is the most expensive as well as the 
largest mechanical filter plant in the world. This grand im- 
[)rovement, due to the enterprise and public spirit of the owners 
who determined to su[)ply the best and purt^st water in the 
world, cost $125,0()(MH). 

During the past year more than five miles of mains were 
laid, and fifty-one new fire hydrants were set. The system is 
without a blemish — our pride aud protection. 

Davenport also has five artesian wells, whose sup[)ly of pure 
water is ample. Three of them at the glucose works flow 2,000 
gallons per minute. 

Railroad Davenport has fine railroad facilities. It is the 

Facilities. distributing center of the four great divisions 
of the great Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific 
Railway, with scores of daily trains; of two divisions of the 
Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railwav, and of one division of 
the Burlington, Cedar Rapids & Northern Railway. The Chi- 
cago, Burlington & Quincy Railway, and the Rock Island & 
Peopia Railway are also tributaries to Davenport, and have 
local freight and passenger offices in the city. These lines with 
their numerous branches and affiliated roads extend over the en- 
tire surrounding country, aud give assurance of excellent facili- 
ties for the transportation of our abundant commodities. Other 
railroads and additional bridges are enter[)rises which have 
passed the preliminary stages of survey and discussion. They 
are grand promises of the city's welfare and advancement which 
the future will develop and complete , 



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BUSINESS ADVANTAGES OF 



Street Davenport possesses one of the most ex- 

Railways. tensive and best equipped electric railway 

systems in the Mississippi Valley. Rapid 

transit is afforded to all parts of the city and quick service ]^uts 

all of the city parks and pleasure resorts within easy access. 

The system comprises 18 miles of trackage, most of which 
is double track, and 30 trains are operated daily on the various 
lines. 




GOVERNMENT BRIDGE. Over Mississippi. 

The Thomson-Houston system machines are used exclusively 
by the Street Car Company and the management has spared no 
expense in adopting the latest improvements for the benefits of 
the service. 

The tracks are kept clear from snow during the winter by 
an electric snow sweeper and the pavements well wet down daily 



DAVENPORT, IOWA. 



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during the heated and dusty summer months by electric street 
s|)rinklers operated on the street railway tracks. 

The Street Car Oom})any also owns and o[)erates the street 
railway line running over the government bridge, onto Piock 




SAINT KATHARINE'S HALL. 



Island, and thence over the wagon bridge to the City of llock 
Island; bringing tlie business centres of Davenport and Rock 
Island within twenty minutes ride of each other. 

The bridfife line carries the workmen and nianv visitors 
daily to the government arsenal on Rock Island op[)osite the 
City of Davenport. 



22 BUSINESS ADVANTAGES OF 

Freights. The railroads report 70,000 incoming and 

onWoinor freio^ht cars handled durin^f the 
past year, making our railroad traffic for the year exceed 680,000 
tons. There was brought to and shipped from this city as river 
freight about 20,(100 tons, making a total of 700,000 tons of 
freight handled annually by our transportation companies. 
Freight cars to the number of 187,000 crossed the river at 
this point during the past year. 

Churches. Daven[)ort is the seat of the Episcopal 

and Roman Catholic sees. Has twenty- 
eight churches. Fine edifices have recently been erected by the 
Christian and Baptist churches. The Roman Catholic denomi- 
nation has completed the erection of a handsome cathedral at a 
cost of upwards of $100,000.00. 

Public A fine building, costing $l;i,OO0.00, is 

Library. dedicated to public library uses. It con- 

tains nearly 18,000 standard books, to- 
gether with the leading magazines and reviews. A free reading 
room has been comfortably fitted up and is abundantly supplied 
with all the standard periodicals. 

Fire The Davenport fire department is a paid 

Department, department, well organized and completely 
e(pii[)ped. Every essential to a satisfac- 
tory outfit is supplied. An electric fire alarm with stations in 
every part of the city makes the location of a fire known in- 
stantly. So efficient is the service, and fully adequate the 
water supply, that a contiagration has not iniperiknl the city 
since the establishni'ent of the present system. 



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BUSINESS ADVANTAGES OF 



Academy 
of Sciences. 



Davenport's Academy of Natural Sciences 
is an institution that has won fame and 
world-wide celebrity. It ranks fourth 
amonir institutions of its kind in the United States, and has re- 
ceived reeot^nition and honorable mention from the best foreign 
scientific societies for its publications. The academy's collec- 




WATER WORKS. Pumping Station No. i. 



tion of Mound relics is large and very valuable, embracing rare 
specimens, such as tablets and elephant pipes — mute memorials 
of a people whose monument is a grave without a name. Its 
library contains thousands of rare books, scientific treatises, 
valuable pamphlets and autograph letters. 



DAVENPORT, IOWA. 



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Charitable Davenport is princely in its charities. 

Institutions. The Clarissa C. Cook Home for aged 
women, the Fejervary Home for worthy 
men, and the Industrial Home which is the headquarters for 
the Ladies' Aid Society, have elegant, cominodioTis buiklings. 
The Associated Charities is a non-sectarian, or rather a nniou 
of aJl charitable societies. It is safely within bounds to say 
that no city more efficiently and systematically cares for its 
worthy poor and nnfortunate citizens. 

Banks. Davenport has four national and four 

savinofs banks, all showing: careful man- 
agement and resultant prosperity. Banking institutions are the 
heart of a city, and their extent and condition tell accurately 
the amount and success of the city's business, the condition of 
its laboring class and its prospective development. The follow- 
ing are the correct amounts on deposit in Davenport banks as 
shown by semi-annual statements for 1893: 

German Savings, - - - - $4,483,780.50 

Davenport Savings, - - - 2,098,224.04 

Scott County Savings, - - - 1,508,099.72 

Farmers' and Mechanics' Savings, - 223,122.90 

Citizens National, - - - - 841,873.83 

First National, - - - - 466,193.19 

Davenport National, - - - 306,331.23 

Iowa National, . - - - 261,790.90 



,189,422.31 



DAVENPORT, IOWA. 



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LIBRARY BUILDING. 



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Post Office. 

progress of a city, 
teution and consideration; 



BUSINESS ADVANTAGES OF 



The business of a Post Office is a very fair 
and reliable index of the growth and 
These figures which are official, merit at- 




The total amount of money order transactions for the year 
of 1893 was $1,218,451.96. 



DAVENrOKT, IOWA. 



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AVater Ways. Great as are Davenport's water lines of 
transportation, the possibilities of the 
future are still greater. The Illinois and Mississippi Canal to 
connect the great interior water line with the Great Lakes, is a 
great national work now well nnder way. The present appro- 
priation of a million dollars for this grand improvement will 
construct enough of this water-way to bring the coal of Illinois 
to our market and thus aid our manufacturers with cheap fuel. 
The future great benefit of this s})lendid w^ater-way, w^hen com- 
pleted, must bring extraordinary development to Davenport. 

To give an accurate knowledge of the city of Davenport and 
of all branches of its commercial and manuacfturing interests 
would require a multiplicity of details. This would mean a 
publication beyond reasonable limits. The foregoing general 
description, we trust, will give a correct idea of what Daven- 
port really is, as a place of residence and as a field for business 
enterprise and the investment of capital. That it is at this 
time a metropolis of trade; that its busine.-s is increasing year 
by year, and that its march of im[)rovement is onward, are facts 
that cannot be questioned. 

The same general opportunities that made Davenport pros- 
perous in the past are present to-day, aiding an increase of 
trade and wealth. Eesting securely on the solid foundation of 
a trade constantly increasing, Daven[)ort offers to the new-comer 
and investor advanfnges of a certain and sul)slantial nature. 

Persons desiring any further information relative to Daven- 
port are cordially invited to apply to the secretary of the 
Davenport Business Men's Association. 



DAVENPORT, IOWA. 



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DAVENPORT IN 1854. 



